The door to a new life
by youte
Summary: Post Final Act. A conversation between Rei and Minako leads the young idol to understand a few things about the real meaning of her life and rebirth. "Linked to the 'Origins' universe - nothing major though"


_Not really the fic I promised, but I will do the R/M fic linked to 'Origins' when I have more time. In the meanwhile, here's a little thing I wrote a few weeks ago. I felt that it was needed, given the character I gave Minako in 'Origins' and the blank the TV show let after the Final Act (where the hell were Artemis and Luna?)..._

**_EDIT 04/02: _**The wonderful Khmyh just warned me that in fact Luna and Artemis are seen with Mamoru on his motorcycle while the girls are on the bridge. My bad, I didn't even re watch the thing before writing this! I'm so sorry! Let's just say that in the world of this fic, Mamoru was all alone (the poor boy!)...

_This is a one shot. Enjoy._

O

**The door to a new life**

Minako had felt her the moment she had entered the building. If she still had her powers, she would have simply jumped from the hotel's roof and avoided her. But she wasn't a supergirl anymore, or at least she didn't have the energy to make her powers work anymore, and so, she didn't have a choice. Because, hey, jumping then would be suicide, and that would be ridiculous. Yep, she had come back from the dead a few hours ago, and it already sucked.

She quietly sighed, prepared herself to look calm, composed, to look like the leader she was. Or had been, whatever.

She had to look like she _understood_, when she never did, really.

The door opened, and Minako raised her eyes toward the Moon. It wasn't full, but it was bright, enormous, it looked like it could destroy her, them, everything. And maybe, just maybe, it _had. _But Minako (Venus) was a loyal soldier, and so she swallowed that thought back quickly deep inside of her heart and buried it far away with so many things.

The other girl was behind her now, her steps loud in the heavy silence. She was slightly out of breath, too. Minako smirked at the Moon, but she stopped her words before they even made it to her mouth.

_Out of shape already, Mars?_

No, that would be going too far in the hypocrisy. The one who had been out of shape, weak and useless was her, Minako, Venus, Senshi, _leader_. Weak, sick and dead.

Her powers had always been below what she would have been able to do if only her frail human body wasn't this fragile. Half of her Senshi energy had been absorbed to help it stay functional, awake and strong enough to fight. Even after her ridiculously late awakening, she had been a mere shadow of the incredible and powerful soldier Princess Sailor Venus had once been, long ago.

The truth was, Minako (the soldier) was terribly ashamed of her new failure, and she (the girl) was completely lost too. Lost and confused.

Because she had grown up knowing she was special, knowing she was _different_, and so when she had become Sailor Venus she had been sure that the reason she existed was to fight and protect, nothing else. Therefore she had dedicated her remaining life and youth to the mission. In spite of everything, she had been good at it, she knew that, in a way. And to an extent, she had loved it.

But in the end she had failed _everything._ Her role as Senshi, as leader, as (almost) normal teen. All of it. It had taken a lot for her to understand that Venus couldn't exist without Minako Aino, and that Minako couldn't be herself without Venus. They were too intertwined, they had been since her birth (for one reason or another, Minako had never understood it). Finally she had awakened her potential, but it had been too late - her pitiful little human body had already been far too weak to support it, and her powers had partly stayed bounded to try and protect her.

But nothing could have prevented Minako and Venus to disappear then. Too late.

And now Minako was there, _alive, _and she could feel Venus inside of her very being, because of the dreams, of the memories, because of her gifts. But the Senshi were dead, all of them were, their powers had disappeared, and all of it, the long hours of training, the wounds, the fights, all of it felt _pointless_.

Back to square one. No power, no destiny, nothing, but the princess got the prince, Earth lived, the fairytale survived.

She didn't understand. She had all this incredible knowledge that many people would be ready to die for and she still couldn't _understand_.

Why? Why had they gone through all that (again), if it was only to go back to the beginning? Because of destiny? Of heritage? Honor? Because of Princess Serenity and her foolish dreams? But even so, Minako (Venus) _knew_ that the princess and the prince would have fallen in love with each other without the war, without _them_, really.

And what if the Senshi had stayed asleep? Could it be possible that Beryl and the Shitennou would never have reappeared, or had it been inevitable?

It was such a huge mess. Ridicule, ironic, all of it.

All had been destroyed, all had been rebuilt, and what was she supposed to do now?

Nothing made any sense.

Not that Minako always needed things to make sense, she was even happy with chaos, but she felt that the situation needed some sort of… explanation. Logic. _Something._

"Shacho told me I would find you there," Mars finally said softly.

Minako lowered her head and turned, her back now to Tokyo and the Moon. Beside her on the wood table was a little artifact, her laptop and a few papers. She decided to ignore them right now.

"He was right, obviously," Minako smiled. "Something's wrong?"

After all, something was _always _wrong. My, wasn't she the cynical and brooding teen tonight?

"No, no. I was… Well, you left quickly this afternoon, so…"

"I did left in the middle of a recording session, you know. I had to go back."

"Of course."

"So you came all the way there just to say hi?" Minako grinned when she saw Mars' cheeks beginning to redden. Yep, that was always fun. "You're quite the stalker, you know that?"

"I am not!"

"Really? How did you know the name of our current hotel then?"

Rei crossed her arms.

"Intuition," she said simply, calmer suddenly. "I just left the girls, well Makoto and Ami at least. They wanted to know how you were doing. We didn't get the chance to talk with Usagi being… Usagi."

"True," Minako answered, thinking back to the princess' attitude. "But you know, even if our phones changed to become regular ones, they still work. You know these pretty things that ring when someone wants to talk to you?"

"Funny. But they don't have your number, and I didn't check the communicators to see if they were still functional. I don't even have mine with me."

"Ah. Could you give them my number for me?"

"Why don't you?"

"I'll be rather occupied this week."

"You could call them with those pretty things that ring when someone wants to talk to you."

Touché, but Minako wasn't one to admit defeat. Still, she wasn't in the mood to argue either.

"Is it that important?"

"You always kept your distance in the… past. Now that the mission is over, you could talk to them. Informally, you know."

It seemed weirdly important to Mars, and Minako was too tired to try and escape.

"Fine. I'll call them."

"That would be nice."

"So, is that all you wanted to say to me, Mars?"

"That's not my name."

Minako rolled her eyes.

"You're so stubborn."

"And you're annoying."

"You love it."

Mars huffed.

"Really. You're just full of yourself."

"Am I?" Minako smirked.

To her surprise, Rei smiled. It was a little smile, genuine and amused. Her eyes lit up a little, and it was… endearing. Rather innocent. As if the absence of their duty, the end of all this madness had erased something dark in her eyes, in her _feelings._

She found herself fascinated by that expression that made her look so young (beautiful).

"Is something troubling you?" Minako asked, sensing the hesitation in her second in command (friend).

Rei nodded, she was embarrassed and tried to hide it clumsily, making Minako smile. She should maybe tell her that she could read into all her feelings and emotions…

"I just needed to see you, I guess."

"Why?"

Mars shrugged.

"It's just a little weird, to adjust. I don't understand some things. I think I'm confused, and… I knew I wouldn't be able to meditate if I didn't come here first."

It was absolutely astounding how Rei could be so guarded and defensive one minute and so open and honest the other. How she could sometimes just… poured all her feelings into words like that. How she could confess to _her _(of all people!) this weakness - in spite of their strange friendship based on competition, duty and the need to prove the other wrong.

Rei had grown stronger this past year. Stronger, older, wiser too.

Minako wondered if she herself had changed at all.

"What is it?" she asked, softly.

She didn't need to be the leader anymore, after all. It was hard, because it had been easy to be only Venus, and it had always been hard to be Minako Aino, but she could at least try tonight. Try to be a girl a little lost and disturbed and sad talking to her first friend about things that shouldn't have happened and that _didn't,_ really, at least in that reality.

Acknowledging this truce in Minako's unusually opened expression, Rei came to sit beside her and raised her eyes to the stars, almost lazily.

"Did you know?" she asked after a while, brutally, and Minako blinked, feeling stupidly lost.

"About?"

"Did you know that it would happen? The world ending and being reset by Usagi..."

"Of course not." _Duh._ "Why would you think something like that?"

"I don't know. You seemed pretty much disillusioned about it all from the start, so I though that, maybe, you knew it was likely to happen."

Minako frowned, not knowing how to react to that.

"I… may have been, a little. But I thought that if we could somehow redeem ourselves by protecting everyone this time around, by stopping the princess from destroying everything, then it would be worth it."

"But you weren't all that confident in our success."

"The odds weren't in our favor, with the princess being seemingly unable to control Serenity's spirit, our powers so weak and you all without memories of your past lives."

"I guess… you were right, to an extent," Rei sighed. "We tried to fight, you know, but in the end Serenity was stronger and we couldn't do a thing to protect Usagi and Earth."

"I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be. Wasn't your fault. And Usagi saved us in the end, apparently with the help of Mamoru."

"Endymion?"

"Yes. But I don't think Serenity and Endymion had anything to do with that. Usagi and Mamoru were the ones who reset everything. I don't remember very much, but somehow I know that our friends are a lot more altruistic and pure hearted than the royal heirs they were in another life."

Minako couldn't help but nod.

"So, it's the end of the Senshi, right?"

There was hope in Mars' voice. Minako didn't know if she should be angry or amused.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"We can't be sure we won't be needed in the future, but for now yes, it's the end."

"Come on, don't tell me you miss it already," Rei smiled.

Minako could only shrugged, her throat felt suddenly too tight.

"What?" Rei asked in a softer tone. "You seem really preoccupied, you know. Is it because of Artemis?"

Minako raised her eyes toward her then, surprised.

"We noticed Luna's absence, too. That's why Usagi left a few hours ago, but apparently she wasn't at home. So you don't know where Artemis is either, huh?"

To hear it made the pain and fear worse, and Minako lowered her eyes to her feet. She didn't want Rei to see her feelings in her gaze.

"I tried to find him. I couldn't. I tried to contact him. No answer. I suppose that now that his task is done, there's no need for him to be here."

_With me._

Rei hesitated, Minako could _feel_ it. _That_ was the reason Mars was here, despite what she had been telling.

She couldn't help it, old habits died hard, Minako automatically hid her vulnerability behind those walls she was using since she could walk. The fact that she had first used this control over herself to please her mother did nothing to stop her. Anger and self-loathing were quickly swallowed and forgotten too.

"It doesn't matter," she said in a hard voice that surprised Rei. She stood up, looked quite coldly at her second in command. "Our mission is currently accomplished. We don't need counselors anymore, you'll have to tell that to the princess."

"Her name is Usagi."

Minako rolled her eyes, but regretted the completely childish gesture immediatly. God, she never learned.

_And now I sound just like Kire._

She shuddered. (Scary thought.)

"And Usagi would never accept that."

"She'll have to. If Luna and Artemis were sent back to Mau somehow, they surely won't be able to send birthday cards, even less to visit."

"Mau?"

For a few seconds, Minako stared at Rei like she had grown a second head, before she remembered that besides herself, only Endymion remembered enough about their past lives to know what Mau was.

She sighed.

"Luna didn't tell you?"

"Luna wasn't the most talkative when it didn't come to the mission or the way Usagi snores. And she didn't remember much about the past anyway."

"I'm pretty sure she remembered her home world. Mau is their home planet."

The way Rei looked then, with her eyes all round and a cute little frown on her face, almost made Minako laugh. (Emphasis on _almost_).

Suddenly feeling really tired (and strangely old), she went to sit back next to Rei, raised her head and her index finger to a precise point in the sky.

"There. See? Two stars to the right of where must be Jupiter? The four ones that are almost aligned?"

"Err… ah, yes, I see them."

"Look to the left of the third one, if you could see Mau, it would be there."

Minako couldn't help her discreet little smile then. Rei's amazement tickled her heart, and she found the innocence refreshing.

"You remember it?"

"I never went to it. I barely knew Luna and Artemis on the Moon, we didn't have the same missions then. Luna was the first counselor of Queen Serenity, and Artemis was the head of the diplomats. At first, he came to the Moon only as an apprentice to a Neptunian ambassador. He was young then. But he learned, and he moved up slowly but surely. He's quite proud of it," she smiled. "He didn't have any family left on Mau, only friends, he rarely went back home. Mau is a little planet, it's far away, in another system, and the trip was a long one even with the technology we had then. For Luna, it was different. She came from a noble family that had established itself on the Moon, at the court, a few decades before, but her clan was still partly on Mau then."

"Wait, it's still there?"

"Mau?" Minako asked, surprised. "Of course. Well, I think so, yes. I can't be sure, a lot could have happened in all these years." Then, she raised an eyebrow at Rei, curious. "You _do _know that Earth isn't the only inhabited planet, right?" The faint red glow on her soldier's cheeks made her shake her head. "Really, Mars, your ignorance is insulting."

"Hey! I'm fairly sure I know a lot more than you, only about _Earthling_'s things!"

"Right," Minako threw back with sarcasm. "For your information, if this System was more or less destroyed with the end of the Silver Millenium, it wasn't the case with _others._"

"So you think that Luna and Artemis were sent back home?"

"I don't know," Minako confessed, her gaze on the stars once more. "And I certainly don't know what they could have found there if it's the case. Luna's extended family could be long gone, and Artemis' friends died a long time ago. Their society must have changed completly, it's been so long..."

"I suppose that their planet isn't full of plush cats, huh?"

Now _that_ made Minako laugh, she couldn't help it.

"No," she replied with a silly smile in her voice.

She could see Rei's amusement in her eyes, and a weird glow of pride in her expression.

_Is she… proud because she made me laugh?_

That thought was stupid. And weirdly distracting, so Minako forgot it quickly.

"Their race can change form. They have three different ones. And no, plush cat isn't one. It must have been in the queen's plans or… something."

"So what do they look like?"

"Well, they have a humanoid form quite like ours actually, but they prefer the other one, the one that look like a cat but bigger and slightly… different."

"That would explain the plush cats."

"Yes."

"And the third one?"

"It's a secret kept from all strangers to Mau since the beginning of time."

"Artemis told you, huh?"

Minako smiled.

"Can't tell."

"It's alright," Rei chuckled. "So, do you know any other aliens? From other planets?"

"That's a secret, too."

"You're full of them, aren't you?"

Too much seriousness in her tone, that was a fact that Minako easily ignored.

She shivered a little, she hadn't eaten yet and the situation didn't help her tiredness.

"Maybe we should go inside," Rei suggested softly, with hesitation, not because she wasn't convinced they should, but because she didn't want to hurt her feelings.

Minako knew she must have looked like a lost and sad child whose best friend had just moved out without a word. She hated it, and so, to regain a part of her dignity, she nodded and stood up, forcing herself not to look up to the stars.

She put her things in her bag and went to retrieve the artifact, when suddenly it came alive with blue light and a painful shrieking sound. Caught of guard, she stumbled when an intense energy met her outstretched hand, making her lightly cry out. Her eyes closed when a violent pain exploded in her head.

"What is that?" she heard Mars asked, but Minako didn't answer her, because she _didn't know_.

She felt Rei's hands on her hips, stabilizing her, and with a last burst of light, the artifact exploded, making both of them jump.

"What happened? What was this thing?"

Minako, ignoring her now throbbing headache, shrugged and took her things, eyeing the alien pieces with distrust.

"Venus?"

"It was a communicator of sort, powerful enough for the signal to reach other galaxies. Artemis and I used it once, it's a long story."

"You hoped to contact him if he was out there?"

Answering her would be admitting things and weaknesses Minako wasn't ready or mature enough to acknowledge, even less to Mars. And so she kept silent, and began walking toward the stairs.

They still hadn't spoken when finally they reached Minako's room's door. The girl knew her manager would be there in a moment, wanting her to eat something and planning their next day. If he had noticed something different with her that day, he hadn't shown it, and Minako was grateful. Keeping a bright smile on was hard enough, lying would be excruciating.

"Venus..."

Minako tensed, her back to the girl as she opened her door. She didn't want to hear more questions, didn't want to be asked if she knew what had happened with the artifact, if she was alright, didn't want to think about the fights, death, Artemis, anything.

"I don't understand a lot in all of that, but I don't want to, in a way. I don't care what we were in another life so ancient that it's ridiculous, I'm just grateful that it permitted me to meet and befriend Usa, Makoto and Ami. And you. Even if you're stupidly stubborn, bossy, competitive, and if your music is just plain –"

Minako turned and glared at her, not liking the list very much - especially when it came to the work that had more or less saved her life and taught her that existing was alright finally.

"What?" Rei challenged, the hint of a smile on her face, before her seriousness took over once more. "You know," she resumed softly, more slowly, "sometimes, you just have to accept things the way they are, to be happier with them. I learnt that this year."

"I never was one to accept things the way they were," Minako replied neutrally.

She didn't know what would have happened to her if she had been that kind of people, but she knew that it would not have ended well. Not that it did, end well (quite the contrary in fact), but...

_Whatever. _

At least she was free now, she was warm, well fed, loved by dozens of people, strange, slightly disturbed, sick. Happy. Kind of.

_Argh, annoying thoughts!_

"Oh, I know that you're not like that. Just try and be more…" Rei struggled with words for a few seconds, and then, "carefree."

"Carefree?" Minako asked, finding the situation as awkward as amusing. "Are you of all people telling me to be more carefree?"

"I am. Mako would be the one doing it if you hadn't do a thing or another to convince her you're a mighty leader that needs respect or something. Or is it just because she's a fan?"

"I should have made Jupiter my second, then."

"Maybe if… Wait. I… I thought that it had been decided in the past?"

"What?"

"You being leader and I being your second."

_Oops._

"I was leader in the past life. You were second."

"But you just said you could have chosen–"

"I thought you hated the past life?"

Rei glared at her, but kept her mouth shut.

"I have to go," Minako said, "Shacho is going to be there any moment."

"Of course. Hum, do you live far from there?"

"What?"

"Your home, I mean."

Home. That had always been a weird noun in Minako's mind, she had never quite grasped the concept either.

"We have a nice flat in Tokyo but it's far from the center, so it's more convenient that way."

"Oh."

Minako was grateful that the girl hadn't asked more about the 'we'. She wasn't ready to explain her family situation to anybody, even if she was quite happy with it being Sugao and her.

She almost frowned when a foreign feeling invaded her mind. She had the intuition, clear and strong, that one day she would have that kind of discussion with Mars, that they would talk about family, and messy childhoods, and anger, and insecurity, and bitter memories, and horrible parents and not so terrible distant senators. It was strange, and absolutely scary, because Minako couldn't see herself ever talk about all that to _anybody_, really.

But obviously, even if it was meant to happen, it wouldn't occur that night, and so she forced herself to forget about it.

"I have to go, my elders are going to worry."

"Ok."

"The girls are coming Saturday afternoon to the Shrine. They might stay the night as well. You should come too."

Was that like a pajamas party or something? Minako had never gone to one before… Which was obvious, she never had friends before, after all. Not her age anyway. What was she supposed to bring? And to say to the girls? What was she supposed to be? A leader? A fellow soldier? A guardian? An idol? A regular teenage girl (she didn't even know how to do that!)? Would Sugao know? God, he was going to freak out about it all...

"I'm not sure of my schedule," she answered, quite professionnally.

It wasn't a lie, she was never sure of anything, not with Shacho being in charge, not with a tumor in her head.

"Well, you still have my phone number."

Minako nodded. What a strange moment.

"You really should forget about the past, and live in the present, Minako. And I'm sure he's going to tell you the same thing. Have a good week. I'll see you on Saturday."

The young idol was too stunned to stop her second from living or even to reply.

Since when did Mars call her Minako?

The name sounded weird from her. It sounded… foreign. Soft. _Nice._

And she hadn't said yes for that thing on Saturday!

And what did she mean when…

What was that feeling?

Minako frowned, and turned toward her suite before slowly entering it. The lights were quickly turned on and she blinked a few times.

"A… Artemis?"

"Hi."

Stunned, she looked at her alien friend.

"You… are a real cat."

"Yeah, I just reappeared like that a few minutes ago. I don't remember much… What happened?"

"You left. You…"

"Didn't I promise that I would be at your side as long as you'd need me?" he replied, his green eyes twinkling but his voice full of seriousness.

She shamefully get rid of the tears gathering at the corner of her hazel eyes and smiled a little.

"You did. Sorry."

"So, what happened? I… I mean… you're here."

"I am. And you are!"

She laughed, feeling childishly gleeful, and took the cat in her arms. For once, he didn't protest against this treatment and purred against her, making her chuckle.

"You're warm."

"That's because I'm alive now. You'll have to feed me, you know."

"It's alright, you're tiny for a cat. Like a kitten."

"I know, isn't it ridiculous? It's almost an insult to my nature."

"Poor Artemis."

She kept him on her knees, feeling that he needed the closeness too. She was sorry to know that she was the cause of his distress, having died on him like that.

Mars was right, she decided. She had to live in the now.

She would have to talk to Shacho about getting this operation sooner. Even if her chances were low, she was going to try for them. And for herself.

"Life is going to be dull from now on," she whispered after a few minutes.

"With you?" Artemis snickered. "Not likely."

She giggled, and she realized suddenly that she hadn't felt that well in a long time.

"Are you free this Saturday?" she asked the cat softly.

"Do I look like I have a full schedule?"

A smile on her face, she nodded.

"We're going to Mars' shrine. The girls and surely Luna will be there."

She could have friends this time around, she decided, at least she could _try. _That part in her that was Venus was strangely calm suddenly, it was soothing, it gave her strenght.

It shouldn't be that hard to trust her fellow Senshi and her princess, after all.

It could even be fun, she thought with a secret grin. After all, there was little she didn't know about the four girls after the research Artemis and V had done on them… And Mars Reiko was really... really... interesting? Fascinating?

Pathetic. She couldn't even found a satisfying word!

Well, she surely knew that she liked being around her (maybe too much). That was enough.

"So, Minako!" Shacho entered the room with his ordinary positive attitude and bright clothes. "Yikes! Is that a cat?"

The girl grinned.

Yep. She was looking forward to that new life.

O

**END.**


End file.
